Thousands ‌turned out to watch the ordination of the bishops from the Society of St. Pius X in the tiny Alpine hamlet of Écône, two days after ​a personal plea from the Pontiff.

“I plead with you and ​ask you with all my heart: please turn back!,” Leo ⁠wrote in a letter on Monday to Davide Pagliarani, Superior General ​of the Society, urging the group not to undertake what he ​described as a “schismatic act.”

Only the pope may authorise the consecration of new bishops, so as to maintain the Church’s ties to Jesus’ 12 apostles, who are regarded ​as the first priests and bishops.

The Vatican has warned the ordination, which ​was broadcast on social media, would incur excommunication. Consecra

tion without papal consent incurs automatic ‌excommunication ⁠for both the person consecrated and the bishop conducting the ceremony.

An ultra-traditionalist group, the Society of St. Pius X, denies the central teachings of the Second Vatican Council, a landmark Vatican gathering of bishops in ​the 1960s that ​pursued various ⁠reforms for the global Church.

The Society, which says it counts 733 priests worldwide, has long had tense relations ​with the Vatican.

Its late founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, ​was excommunicated ⁠in 1988 after ordaining four bishops without permission from then-Pope John Paul II.

Benedict XVI, John Paul’s successor, sought to renew dialogue and lifted four ⁠remaining ​excommunications.

The current leadership announced in February it ​planned to ordain new bishops in July, without Vatican approval, citing a need for more ​prelates to lead the society.